An Eye for an Eye
by Falcon277
Summary: An eye for an eye right! A life for a life! Commander Shepard will be forced to watch from the sidelines as the reapers burn a hole through the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey every one this is a oneshot... now I am writing these to help me study for my SEM 2 exams for english which includes a creative writing task - short stories.** **Soooo... any criticism would help me a lot. Thanks**

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An Eye for an Eye.

My eyes shifted from person to person, scanning each of them methodically, and with great scrutiny, through my pitch black visor. Everyone wove in and out of each other in some sort of indecipherable pattern.

I then saw him, the Turian: Sidonis, standing there in what seemed to be an invisible spotlight, the edge of which was made up of the people that went by there daily business, unaware of the vengeful feud that was about to come to its bloody finale, right here, right now, in the middle of the citadel.

I strode up to him, his face impassive unaware of the eminent danger. Why should he be, turians are predators not the prey... well in most cases. My hips swaying from side to side as I brushed through the crowd making my way to the epicentre of the soon to be chaotic market.

He looked at me somewhat nervously as I pushed my way through the wall of bodies to come to a stop in front of him. "Sidonis?" I asked already knowing the answer.

His eyes narrowed in predatory fashion as he inspected me, the human female. "shhh... Please don't call me that... Can we get this over and done with quickly?"

He was so oblivious of what was about to happen, it was sad watch a mouse run head first into the snake but it was worst watching a mouse trying to get food while running head first into the snake. I was the bait.

"That's it Shepard... Keep him talking. I have him in my sights." Garrus, the turian who Sidonis had betrayed, her best friend and the one with a sniper rifle behind her, ready to take the shot as soon as she moved, said over her internal communication link.

Garrus was no killer, but he was hell bent on killing, and the most awful part was that she was helping him achieve his revenge. "Sidonis... why are you running?" she asked, obeying her friend's orders.

Sidonis recoiled from the question like the prey that catches whiff of the predator slowly staking it from its hiding place. "Please... let's just get this over." He pleaded.

"That it Shepard just keep him talking a while longer." Garrus said again.

I scrunched my face up in frustration over being played to achieve the end of a bloody outcome. I didn't want my best friend to become a killer, a murderer. He wasn't being himself. He was letting his adversity take him down a dark path, one I know all too well, and he won't like what he finds. I sure didn't. By not overcoming his hardship people were going to get hurt.

"Ok... Shepard you're in my shot. Move to the left."

No. "Sidonis... listen very carefully... I am with my friend Garrus -"

"Garrus is here!" Sidonis practically drooled in fear as he made his way to dash for the nearest exit.

I grabbed him by his shoulder and pulled him in front of me protectively. "LOOK... I am the only thing standing between you and a bullet in your head." I scolded. His eyes darted from me to his surroundings in confusion.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Garrus hissed, but the static made it sound much more aggressive.

"Look tells Garrus. I am sorry. I didn't mean to... they said they would kill me...Please tell him I am sorry" Sidonis pleaded, drawing attention to us from the many passerby's.

"NO YOUR NOT" Garrus roared through my ear piece, even though Sidonis couldn't hear him. "Shepard move. I am taking the shot!"

Sidonis then did something I did not expect, he just turned around and walked, like a man that about to go to the noose, his head held high and his back straight screamed confidence in his, stupid decision.

What happened next was in slow motion for me, whether it was from the fear of what I was about to do or the adrenaline pumping through my body, I did not know. I heard a shot. I jumped in front of the idiot Sidonis. Sidonis turned around and faced me, a look of confusion on his face. Many shoppers also looked at me, as if I was naked in public, their stares piercing through me like spears of hot iron. A woman screamed somewhere within the haze of people. It was then I felt it: a trickle running down the inside of my armour. I looked down at my chest, to see a gaping red hole punched through my torso, blood drained out of it in sporadic floods, painting the pearl white floor where I stood red.

My surrounding imploded around me as I collapsed into my own pool of blood. Darkness curled its long bony hands around my delicate form. "SHEPARD!" I heard Garrus scream from afar, my name, Jane Shepard, Butcher of Torfan, Murderer of Wrex and the Council, A lost soul. I'll be dammed before I let someone else do what I do.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – A heart of fear.

The dark halls of my mind echoed with distant, uncompressible, yet loud voices, some were whispering in feathery sadness, others aguishly screamed at me, accusing me of faults that I have conceived. Shadows dripped from the ceiling, accumulating in black sticky puddles that swirled with unseen forces. The voices started coming closer and closer, slowing I began to understand.

"...Shepard come back..."

"...She's going to be fine..."

"...She better be or I will..."

"...I must inform the Illusive man..."

"...Liara, she is resting..."

"...I HAVE TO OPERATE..."

"...SHEPARD, YOUR GOING TO BE FINE..."

"...don't leave me..."

"...YOU SAID SHE WOULD BE FINE..."

"...I AM SORRY..."

"...HMMM, IRREVIRSBLE DAMAGE..."

"...Weak..."

"...NO. NO. NO. NONO. NONONONOOO..."

"...This is all my fault..."

"...She trusted you the most, you must continue her legacy..."

"...I am so sorry... Jane...

My elliptical vision slowly returned to me as the light of days missed burned my skull. I was alive. The tendrils of shadow had all but disappeared from my sight. I blinked away the prickly sleep from my sore eyes.

I looked up at the cold grey ceiling, trying desperately to match it, for it tugged at my memory sharply. The Normandy. Relief flooded the oceans of my consciousness, exhaling my built up fear that had been accumulating all the while, I relaxed into the sheets of the med bays bed.

It was now I heard the muffled voices speaking outside the door. "She is strong it is possible that with enough rehab she could overcome this." The familiar voice of Dr Chakwas sifted through.

"But how long will that take, weeks, months... years. We needed her now." The cold calculating Miranda piped up.

"You speak of her as if she was dead."

"I didn't spend two years of my life rebuilding her just so one of her supposed friends could destroy her life."

"NOW DONT YOU BRING GARRUS INTO THIS... he is tormented enough without you reminding him."

The quarrelling pair started to whisper, I tried to turn my head to see if I could hear the two, yet I couldn't. It wouldn't respond. I tried again, yet all that came was a numbness where a fire should burn. It was like forgetting to walk, YET WORSE. I couldn't move. Fear took me and I tried to thrash my body into submission, yet it was resolute on doing nothing. My heart was in my throat chocking me with my own terror. I screamed, like I have never screamed before, it pierced a sword through my own ears, making them ring with chaotic thunder. I heard the hiss of the med bay doors open yet i did not stop. I could not stop. Even when the soft caring hands tried to sooth me back to obliviousness, but i wouldn't go. The instruments that lined around blared with terrific music that accompanied my pained screams. Like an orchestra from the bowls of hell itself.

"SEDATE HER" someone ordered amongst the music of my fear.

I felt nothing, no prick of the needle, not even the cold liquid seep into my veins. Only the numbness. It was maddening. Slowly I drifted into a nightmarish sleep on the cusp of reality, retuning to my temple of solitude where the voices began anew.

"...I am sorry..."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Whats wrong with me

The nightmare world circled around me like a swirling vortex of wind, ripping up any good thought that would grow in my mind. The same voices before thundered in the winds, yet they spoke of different things.

"...what happened?..."

"...Woke up..."

"...Tell her?..."

"...no..."

"...can she be fixed?..."

"...we calculate a 0.321 percent chance. Rounded up..."

"...I am so sorry..."

"...Garrus you have to lead us. She would have wanted that..."

"...KEEP SEDATING HER..."

"...we can't keep her here..."

"...no..."

"...Yes. Find suitable recovery environment better for mental health of patient..."

"...She needs her friends..."

"...she can't be with us anymore..."

"...this is my entire fault..."

Silence. The voices in the wind ceased to howl. Only the silent horrors remained. Pictures of my failures: Torfan, Sovereign, Virmire, the Citadel, the council, Wrex, Ashley... Garrus. I had to get back to Garrus. I struggled against the gale force winds, putting one foot in front of the other within this shadowy realm. Pushing forward, the world began to dissolve, slowing being replace with a glass room.

"Commander?" the shaky voice of a man said.

I tried to turn my head like before and again nothing happened. My breathing became erratic.

"Commander, listen to me" the man s face entered my vision.

"Admiral Hacket?" I croaked suppressing the fear that was consuming me.

"Yes it's me."

"Wer... were I am? What's wrong with me?" I choked the tears back.

"Commander I am so sorry. You are on Earth, Vancouver to be more exact. Umm, this is hard to explain... it has been two weeks since you last woke up and - "

"WHATS WRONG WITH ME!" My sadness and confusion was replaced with an anger that burned brighter than any sun.

"You are an incomplete tetraplegic, the shot destroyed most of your spine, and only with you enhancements were you able to survive, well partially."

Tears filled my eyes and ran down my dry cheeks. "H – How bad?"

"From what the doctors have said, it's bad. You have lost most motor function from your neck down, however due to your upgrades, your organs still work quite well... This confused the doctors at first. You also apparently can still feel things in your fingers."

I tried to flex my rigid fingers, testing what Hacket said to be true, they only moved slightly as if they had been glued at the joints.

"What about the Collectors?"

"Don't worry I haven't arrested you friends... they are still gunning for them, if that answers you question."

"What will happen to me?" I asked afraid of the answer.

I saw the old man's face cringed in guilt and sorrow. "None of us wanted to have to do this; you have been one of the best, but now... I just don't know. The doctors say there is little hope of you ever recovering... seeing as you are unfit for service, as of now you are medically discharged from the alliance, the SPECTRE's and unofficially Cerberus."

I swallowed down my pain, making it go deeper into me, yet I kept a face of iron. "Sir... what will I do?" I asked in pain. "All I have ever known is being a solider."

"I know... and I am sorry. You will be most likely looked after at a disability centre. Private of course. Just for you, because you have damned well earned it."

"But... But... I..." My voice started to crack as the tears threatened to overflow the dams that I had constructed in front of the rivers of my emotions.

"Look, I know... Its going to be hard, but you will adapt you always do. Your ex commander Shepard."

_Ex...Fucking commander Shepard._

"And don't worry we will allow your cre – former crew to visit you no matter where their allegiance lies." Hacket said as he left my room of torment.

_Fucking ex Commander Shepard._


End file.
